Northern Ohio Marathon to be first of its kind in Lake County (with video)

Concord Township resident Brian Pulling has run close to 20 marathons, but never one this close to his home.

Pulling was excited to learn that the organizers of the Lake Health Half Marathon held each June will conduct a new full marathon (26.2 miles) in Lake County this fall.

"I run through here all the time," he said. "How great it would be to put together a marathon locally."

Sponsored by Lake Health, the Northern Ohio Marathon will be held Oct. 13 in Fairport Harbor at Lake Metroparks Lakefront Park Beach.

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Participants also can choose instead to run a half marathon (13.1 miles), 5K (3.1 miles) or 2-mile walk.

The marathon will be the first of its kind to be run in Lake County and the event is a featured part of the new Lake Health Running Series.

Pulling said there is a strong running community in Lake County and Northeast Ohio and it's a natural fit to have an event of this magnitude locally for runners.

"As far as running, you have everything here," he said. "I think (a marathon) is long overdue myself. It's going to be really nice. A lot of people have families and kids that are into running. It's not always logistically possible for some people to get all your kids, friends and family together to see you run locally."

Charting the course

Bill Dennison and Geoff Weber are co-directors of the Lake Health Running Series and are the co-directors of the Northern Ohio Marathon.

Dennison said Brooks Sports and Lake Metroparks also will help sponsor the event.

Weber said many local runners were looking to do a full marathon closer to home and the idea finally grew to fruition.

Dennison gave a preliminary idea of what the marathon and half marathon courses would be like.

"It will start and finish in downtown Fairport at the park," Dennison said. "We will go down into the lakeshore and into northern Mentor with loops and then into the marsh and Headlands State Park," he said. "There will be a lot of places for aid stations and especially around the 20-mile mark."

The half marathon would follow mostly the same path as the marathon, before runners take a different turn and eventually head back to the finish.

"It is utilizing the Lake Erie shoreline," Dennison said.

"It's a nice course, very flat and runner-friendly."

A course map isn't ready to be released at this point because final details are still being hammered out, he said.

Race organizers want the Northern Ohio Marathon to be a premier running event that entices not only local runners to stay in the area to do a fall marathon or half marathon each fall, but also to attract runners and visitors from out of the region.

"It's Lake County's first and the area's first, and we're excited," Dennison said. "Once people come out to the race and see how well-prepared it is and the course, people will want to come back."

Dennison said Northeast Ohio has a solid reputation as a region filled with competitive runners and races.

There are several official running groups like the Northeast Runners Club, which has hundreds of members, and there is usually some type of race available each weekend somewhere within the region.

With that in mind, Dennison said, there was a lot of preliminary interest to put together a marathon in Lake County.

"We kind of did some polling before going public with the race," he said. "People were like where, when and how do I sign up?"

Building a reputation

Pulling has run marathons in places such as Akron and in Florida, so he has enough experience to compare events.

When organizers do a nice job conducting a race, it allows the event's reputation to grow and attract more participants, he said.

"I think this is going to be a gem for Lake County," Pulling said. "You look at Akron (Marathon) and it's well-managed."

Inaugural marathon events usually take some time to build a good reputation and name recognition to increase participation.

But if a race is successful and grows in stature, the events can also help to bring in revenue to local businesses and communities.

The Akron Marathon's inaugural race was held in 2003 with field of 3,775 participants.

The 2012 event attracted 15,000 registered participants, of whom 49 percent were local and 51 percent were nonlocal. The majority of the economic activity was spent in the main sectors of the economy, including hotels, gas stations, restaurants and bars.

It also added an estimated $6 million to Akron's economy, an increase of $800,000 from what was generated as a result of the 2011 race, according to race officials. The economic impact analysis was conducted by Kent State University's Department of Economics.

A study of the 2012 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon -- which attracted 20,008 runners to the various races that were part of the May 18 though May 20 event -- showed the race generated $18.25 million toward the city of Cleveland's economy, according to race officials. A 2004 study showed a figure of $6.8 million.

The 2012 study was conducted by Forward Analytics, a Pittsburgh-based full-service marketing research and strategic planning firm.

Fairport Harbor Mayor Tim Manross said the village is excited to host an event that will help showcase the village, beach and Lake Erie coastline.

"The marathon is really kind of a turning point as to what we're trying to market our village," Manross said. "It's exactly the kind of event we want to host here in Fairport Harbor."

Part of the village's new marketing strategy includes a major health and wellness event planned for June 8 that will soon be announced, Manross said.

Lake County Visitors Bureau Director Robert Ulas said a marathon in Fairport Harbor would be a wonderful event for the village and for the county's tourism.

"Once the runners discover the beauty of that region, they would hopefully return as a visitor and obviously the bureau would like to assist," Ulas said. "That would be a wonderful addition to help people realize there is an east side of Lake Erie."

'I want it to be special'

Concord Township resident Mary Hrwatzki plans to run the Northern Ohio Marathon and it will be her first attempt at the distance.

She had planned to run the marathon in Cleveland in May, but when she discovered there would be one even closer to home she changed her plans.

"There is a lot of people here in this area who run and I see people on the roads running all the time and just going to the races I see so many people I know," Hrwatzki said. "This is going to be huge, and I'm so happy it will be here."

She also is pleased that the event is close enough to home to allow her family the chance to see her achieve her goal to finish.

Hrwatzki also has a special reason for why she wants to run a marathon.

Nearly six years ago her son John Kovach, 23, was killed in a motorcycle crash.

About a year after her son died, she established a 5K event in his memory called "Johnny's Run," which marks its fifth year and will be held June 2 in Mentor and Painesville Township. The event helps raise money for various local charities.

As she continued to think about her own running efforts, she began to consider running a marathon.

"I said to my daughter I want to do a full marathon, and I want it to be special," Hrwatzki said.

As someone who has gone through the pain of losing a child, she plans to get a team together for the Oct. 13 marathon and at each of the 26 mile markers remember one of the 26 victims killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"I've lost a son, and I can relate to what they're going through," Hrwatzki said.

For information about the Northern Ohio Marathon and other Lake Health Running Series events, visit: www.lakehealthrunning.com.